


Chekov, Pavel Andreievich

by mightymads



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Nonfiction, Russia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-20
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-02 01:56:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1051175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mightymads/pseuds/mightymads
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things about Pavel Chekov that seem funny and adorable to a person from Russia.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

First of all, it's so great to see a good Russian guy in an American TV show and later in the movies. No clichés with vodka or Russian mafia, thank you very much. Gene Roddenberry was indeed a man with progressive thinking. 

Some cultural inaccuracies in portrayal of a foreigner are inevitable, but Chekov is adorable anyway.

"Ensign Chekov, Pavel Andreievich, sir." - he introduces himself to Pike. Actually, you wouldn't introduce yourself to an officer of a higher rank like this because you don't expect him to address you by your given and patronymic names, so it sounds rather funny. Using a given and a patronymic names is pretty formal and respectful, and you would usually call your superiors this way: your teacher, boss, sometimes parents-in-law. 

Perhaps Chekov could address Kirk as James Georgevich or Spock as Spock Sarekovich if the Enterprise were a Russian ship :D

People of high ranks (e.g. diplomats) would introduce themselves with their full name because an official protocol requires it. 

A usual way to introduce yourself in Russian is given name + last name or last name + given name or just your given name if the situation is informal. 

Using given + patronymic can also have a joking or ironical meaning: if friends are calling each other like this, they are clearly fooling around (people of older generation sometimes address their friends like this without any irony implied, though: together with informal grammar and an informal 'you' ("ты") it can express fondness and respect at the same time).

Or it can be used with polite forms to distance yourself from a person, e.g. someone you used to be good friends with, but now you have a grudge against them and talk to them too politely to show the bitterness you feel. 

So in a TOS episode _The Way To Eden_ Irina, Pavel's acquaintance, might be either bitter or flirtatious calling Chekov _'Pavel Andreievich'_ , who knows.

Lastly, '-vich' is a male suffix. A suffix for girls is '-vna': e.g. Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova.

 

P.S. If you are still not bored by this kind of linguistic ramble: 

'-a' is usually added to a last name to denote female gender (but there are last names which don't follow this rule), so Chekov's wife, sister or mother would be Chekova.


	2. Chekov's Best Mispronunciation (or Khan Would Be Delighted)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nitpicking about Chekov's accent.

Perhaps many people know that a Russian wouldn't pronounce 'w' instead of 'v'. Quite the contrary: people with a heavy Russian accent tend to pronounce 'v' instead of 'w': vhere, vhy, vhat, etc. It's because there's no 'w' sound in Russian.

I read somewhere that it was Walter Koenig's invention and later Anton Yelchin kept this feature as it had become a kind of an inside joke. 

Things like _'I can do zat'_ or _'Zis iz...'_  which you might see in some fics are absolutely accurate: there are no [θ] and [ð] sounds in Russian, so they turn into [s] and [z] respectively if a speaker couldn't master the correct way to pronounce them. 

Whereas _'Meester Spock...'_ is just impossible. I would say, vowels in Russian words are always short and vowel length has no meaning distinction function in Russian (no such things as 'too' - 'to', 'keel' - 'kill', 'peak' - 'pick', etc.). That's why Russians often mispronounce the British variant of 'can't' - a short vowel instead of a long one. So _'can't'_ turns into _'cunt'_. There is a myth among some of Russian teachers of English that Russian people are just unable to pronounce the British variant appropriately and it's better to stick to American pronunciation to avoid awkward situations. But in fact it's just length, which does matter.


	3. That unprincipled, evil-minded, lecherous kulak Harry Mudd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Swearing in Russian.

Chekov's curses in Russian are just adorable.

Korax: Well, frankly, I never liked Earthers. They remind me of Regulan bloodworms.  
Chekov: That cossack!  
Scott: Easy, lad. You ought to be more forgiving.  
_TOS, The Trouble With Tribbles_

Chekov: Cossacks! Filthy Klingon murderers! You killed my brother Piotr.  
_TOS, The Day Of The Dove_

Galt: It is part of your training. The Providers wish it.  
Captain James T. Kirk: The devil with the Providers!  
Chekov: Cossacks.  
_TOS, The Gamesters of Triskelion_

 

Let's get it straight, who are _cossacks_ and _kulaks?_  

Cossacks are semi-military people and historically they opposed themselves to common peasants because unlike peasants they were free and did not have masters. Cossacks helped to protect Russian borders and served as a part of the Russian army in many wars, including WWII. They still have some military functions, e.g. recently I was in Krasnodar (a city in the Southern part of Russia) and saw them checking documents together with the police at checkpoints. They wear fancy clothes (their uniform is rather peculiar), have a reputation of strong drinkers and are famous for their Cossack dance. 

The peculiar uniform:

Btw, don't confuse them with these cossacks (Kazaky, a nice Ukrainian dance band. Check them out on youtube).  

Long story short, there's nothing offensive in this word. A real swear word which could be used in the situations above is 'svoloch' or 'svolochi' in plural (it's somewhat similar to 'bastard' in its effect) :D 

Let's move on to _'kulak'_.  Literally 'kulak' means 'a fist'. Also, wealthy peasants in Imperial and later in Soviet Russia were called _kulaks_. Perhaps it's because they had a big influence in their villages due to their wealth and held power in their fists. The Soviet government took away their property and often subjected them to repressions. 

Ok, this word does have a negative connotation, but now it's no more than a historical term. A Russian word for 'scoundrel' would be 'negodyai' :)


	4. Vodka & Co.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weird Russian dishes.

Believe it or not, but the drink we have in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening and even at night (if you can't sleep) is tea. Black tea is very popular in Russia. 

I came across several stories where Chekov added vodka to cakes or soups. The only cake I know that contains alcohol is [chocolate cherry cake with cherries soaked in vodka](http://momsdish.com/recipe/125/drunken-cherry-cake). Some people say that borscht goes especially well after a shot of vodka (I don't know, didn't try this combination), but there are definitely no soups containing the booze. I do like vodka with pickled cucumbers, though, which are a classical snack to it.

Russian cuisine has a lot of weird dishes even without vodka, such as okroshka (cold soup based on sour cream or kvass with fresh cucumbers, boiled eggs, potatoes, carrots) or Olivier salad, which has practically nothing to do with France, but it is a traditional New Year dish and it's pretty popular all year round too :D


	5. Something About Holidays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few little differences.

I don't know about the 23rd century, but now Russian Christmas is orthodox: it's not December 25, it's January 7 (but I guess Chekov _loves_ to celebrate with the crew). So usually all shenanigans and wild parties take place on New Year's Eve whereas Christmas is a quiet family holiday when some people go to church and some just stay at home (for Pavel, it's a perfect opportunity to have two Christmases instead of one ;)). That's why it's not commercialized - it's New Year's Day domain. Many don't observe Christmas at all since there are lot of Muslims, Buddhists and nonreligious people in Russia. 

We also have a funny kinda holiday called Old New Year, it's January 13. This day is just one more excuse to celebrate with your friends in case you can't remember New Year's Eve well enough. Why Old New Year? The thing is, Russia adopted the Gregorian calendar only in 1918. The difference between it and the Julian calendar, which had been used before, is about two weeks. That's why Christmas shifted to January 7 and it's easy to figure out that according to the old calendar, New Year comes not earlier than January 13. 

Russian Easter does not involve Easter Bunnies or searching for eggs. There is a tradition of _rolling Easter eggs down the hill_ , though I personally have never seen anyone rolling eggs. Then again, I'm not a Christian, maybe that's why. There are also traditional Easter dishes - _[kulich](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kulich)_ and _[paskha](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paskha)_.


End file.
